The Lord's Church — Lesson 5

SALVATION AND CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

INTRODUCTION:

1) The question of the membership or composition of the
church is answered by the study of the nature of the church
in lessons one and three: the church is the people of God,
the body of Christ, the community of the Holy Spirit; that
is, it is a people characterized by its relationship to
deity.

a) One becomes a part of the church by being in the
people of God, being incorporated into the body of Christ,
and receiving the Holy Spirit.

b) Thus, membership in the church is part of a broad
doctrinal perspective.

2) This lesson addresses what is involved in how one is
brought into that relationship.

3) The same idea may be expressed as “being saved.”

a) Another way of describing the nature of the church is
to say that the church is those persons who are saved from
their sins.

b) The church, therefore, may be defined as the
community of the saved.

4) This definition of the church once more emphasizes
the centrality of Christ for understanding the church since
his mission was to seek and save the lost. Luke 19:10.

a) The church is the product of the saving purposes of
God as expressed in Jesus Christ.

b) God obtained the church with the blood of his Son.
Acts 20:28.

c) As a result, there is salvation in no one else. Acts
4:12.

d) Christ is the Savior of the church, his body. Eph.
5:23.

e) Christ saves the church.

f) Those who are saved from their sins are added by God
to the number of his people. Acts 2:47.

5) It is important to remember that, while the church
does not save (Christ is the Savior), neither does the
church have nothing to do with salvation; the church is the
people who are saved.

a) Some depend on the church to save them.

b) Others make only a minimal connection between church
membership and salvation, saying that one becomes saved in
one manner and becomes a church member in another.

c) Both positions misunderstand Biblical teaching.

d) God places the saved in the church, which is his
people.

e) The church is the community of the saved.

BODY:

1) God’s action. John 3:16.

a) Because all have sinned and come short of the glory
of God (Rom. 3:23), the only way that human beings can be
saved is for God iN his grace to take the initiative.

i) The Bible does not offer a systematic explanation of
how the atonement works or why God accepts the death of
Jesus as providing forgiveness of sins.

ii) The writers of the New Testament do describe the
meaning of what God has done in terms familiar to the
people of the time.

iii) They employ various images drawn from familiar
experiences to convey a truth; these images illustrate a
reality, but they do not explain how the reality works.

b) Different descriptions of the atonement.

i) Sacrifice – the language of worship.

(1) Sacrifice was the universal language of religion in
the ancient world.

(a) While there were sacrifices of grain, fruit,
incense, and liquids, many sacrifices involved the killing
of an animal.

(b) Hence, it is no wonder that the imagery of sacrifice
is applied to the significance of Jesus’ death on the
cross. Eph. 5:2.

(c) An extended discussion of the death of Jesus under
the imagery of the Old Testament sacrificial system is
provided in Hebrews 7:1-10:10.

(2) A special case of sacrificial language is provided
by the hilaskomai word group.

(a) There has been a dispute whether to translate
“propitiate,” which in English has a person as the object,
or “expiate,” which in English refers to a thing.

(b) Since both words are no longer common in English,
recent translation avoid the debate by choosing “atone” or
“make atonement” as the rendering.

(d) In the Old Testament, this word group was used to
translate, among other Hebrew words, those from the kipper
family.

(i) The Hebrew word means either “to cover” or “to wipe
away,” and then with reference to sin “to make atonement”
or “to ransom.”

(ii) It is the word in Yom Kippur, the Day of
Atonement.

(e) In New Testament usage, the hilaskomai family of
words always has sin as it object. See Hebrews 2:17.

(i) The Biblical (Hebrew) idea, without this word, is
expressed in Hebrews 9:26.

(ii) The noun hilasmos occurs with the same meaning of
the removal of sin. 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10.

(f) The translation of hilaskomai as “expiate” rather
than “propitiate” does not question God’s wrath, only
whether the wrath of God is the object of this word
group.

(g) The debate over whether hilaskomai has a personal or
impersonal reference in the Bible and whether the elements
of God’s wrath and punishment are included in the word has
obscured the main difference between the New Testament and
pagan thought.

(h) In the New Testament, instead of a sacrifice offered
by human beings to God, this word group refers to a
sacrifice made by God himself (Rom. 3:25; 1 John 4:10).

(3) Some passages use the expected language of a
sacrifice offered to God (Eph. 5:2), but the New Testament
usage of hilasterion and hilasmos stands the pagan Greek
idea on its head.

(a) God is not appeased or propitiated.

(b) He himself acts to remove the sin that separates
human beings from him.

(c) Instead of humans offering the sacrifice, God
himself expiates or makes atonement for sins.

(i) God performs the sacrifice.

(ii) The divine action for human salvation completely
reverses the usual understanding of religion and
worship.

ii) Reconciliation – the Language of Personal
Relations.

(1) “To reconcile” originally meant to “to exchange” and
then “to change from enmity to friendship, to make friends
again.”

(c) Paul describes salvation as being brought into a
state of friendship with God.

(d) Where there was enmity, there is now peace.

(2) All of the important elements in the imagery of
reconciliation applied to the human relationship to God are
found in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20.

(a) The subject of the action, the one doing the
reconciling, is God.

(i) God does not need to be reconciled to us; we need to
be reconciled to God.

(ii) Since our sins against God have estranged us from
God, God must take the initiative to restore the
relationship.

(b) The object of the reconciliation is we human beings.
Rom. 5:10.

(3) In human relationships, there is often the need for
a mediator to effect reconciliation.

(a) The mediator between God and humanity is Jesus
Christ. 1 Tim. 2:5-6.

(b) God effected the reconciliation through Christ. Rom.
5:11.

(c) The circumstance in which Christ mediated this
reconciliation was his death on the cross (Rom. 5:6), so
God did not count the trespasses of human beings against
them (2 Cor. 5:19).

(d) The theme of Jesus ministry was “peace” (Acts
10:34-36).

(e) That peace was primarily between God and humanity
(Rom. 5:1), but the context in Acts 10 would have had
relations between Jews and Gentiles near the surface if not
the primary point.

(f) That theme of peace between Jews and Gentiles
becomes explicit in Eph. 2:14-15, 17.

(i) The reconciliation of both Jews and Gentiles to God
occurs in the one body of the church (Eph. 2:16).

(ii) Reconciliation with God is the basis for
reconciliation among human beings.

(iii) The bringing of Jews and Gentiles into one body
overcame the major religio-cultural barrier of the ancient
world.

(iv) No modern animosity offers a greater barrier to
peace and unity.

(4) Reconciliation transforms human conduct in the
present.

(a) In Christ we become the righteousness of God.

(b) For the practical consequences of reconciliation in
conduct, see Colossians 1:20-22.

(5) The reconciliation begun on the cross is not
completed.

(a) What was inaugurated in Christ must continue until
the final resurrection (cf. Rom. 11:15).

(b) Hence, there is now a ministry of reconciliation (2
Cor. 5:18), conducted by the ambassadors of God who bring
the message of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:19) to those who
are entangled in sin.

iii) Redemption – The Language of the Market Place.

(1) The language of purchase is explicit in 1 Cor.
6:19-20.

(a) Paul likely has the slave market in mind (cf. 1 Cor.
7:23).

(b) Other passages use the same ordinary word for a
commercial purchase to describe God’s ownership of his
people (2 Pet. 2:1; Rev. 14:3-4), specifying the blood of
Christ as the price of the purchase (Rev. 5:9).

(2) The word “redeem” literally means “to buy back,” and
the Greek noun for redemption that was used for buying back
a slave or a captive, is used for the “redemption from
transgressions” (Heb. 9:15) “that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom.
3:24; cf. 1 Cor. 1:30).

(3) The “ransom” family of words (lytron, lytroo) was
especially used for buying back those who were captives,
whether by armies, pirates, or brigands.

iv) Justification – The Language of the Law Court.

(1) The average person in the Greek world had much more
direct experience with the law courts than does the average
person today.

(a) Any person, not just a professional lawyer, could
argue cases, and many more disputes were settled in the
public assemblies of citizens than is true today.

(b) Justification was a legal or forensic term, meaning
to be declared righteous.

(c) English prefers “righteousness” for the noun and
“justify” for the verb, while the words come from the same
root in Greek.

(2) Paul is the author who makes the greatest use of the
language of justification, and for him the verdict of God
is declared in the unique fact of Christ crucified and
risen (Rom. 4:25).

(a) Paul often associates justification with faith.
Philippians 3:9.

(b) Paul’s emphasis on justification by faith occurs
primarily in Romans and Galatians, that is, in a context
defending the reception of the Gentiles into the church
without requiring them to submit to circumcision and other
requirements of the law of Moses.

(3) Justification by faith, in the sense of human faith,
is not absolutized in the way it often has been in
Protestant theology.

(a) Rather, it is a way of universalizing the gospel,
for the response of faith is open to all, Gentiles as well
as Jews.

(b) There had to be another principle of justification
available to all in the new age that welcomed Gentiles.

v) Victory – The Language of Warfare.

(1) God’s action in Christ is described in the military
imagery of a victory won over the forces of evil that hold
humanity in their power (Co. 2:15).

(a) The verb translated “triumphing over” means
primarily “to lead in a triumphal procession,” referring to
the practice of Roman armies to celebrate a triumph after
defeating an enemy.

(b) The same verb occurs in 2 Cor. 2:14, where Paul
describes God as leading us in triumphal procession, or
perhaps “causes us to triumph.”

(a) General Protestant doctrine derived from Augustine
and passed on through Martin Luther and John Calvin,
teaches that God predestines those who will be saved and
gives them faith by direct operation of the Holy
Spirit.

(b) The opposite of this teaching is the secular view
that faith is an arbitrary attitude arising from a person’s
own irrational, perhaps superstitious decision.

(c) The Biblical explanation is neither of these
alternatives.

(2) Saving faith comes by hearing the word about Christ
(Rom. 10:17).

(a) The word of God is associated with power (e.g., Heb.
1:3).

(b) The power of God that works for salvation is
identified with the “gospel” (Rom. 1:16) and more
specifically with the “word of the cross” (1 Cor.
1:18).

(c) The word of God has power to save, but it must be
implanted in the human heart (James 1:21).

(3) The elements of faith.

(a) The nature of saving faith produced by the word of
God may be seen from the example of Abraham in Rom. 4.

(i) Abraham is an example of what it means to believe so
as to be accounted or declared right, or just, by God, to
be forgiven not by works but as God’s gift (Rom.
4:4-8).

(ii) This happened before Abraham received circumcision
(Rom. 4:9-12) and so demonstrates the principle on which
God accepts people (Rom. 4:13-15) and assures that the
promises to Abraham are available to Gentiles as well as to
his fleshly descendants, that is, to all who share his
faith (Rom. 4:16-25).

(b) The nature of Abraham’s faith is especially evident
in Romans 4:17-25.

(i) V. 25 is what Christ did for us – he was handed over
to death and raised.

(ii) Vv. 23-24 state the benefit for us – we are
reckoned as righteous.

(iii) V. 22 declares the basis – faith.

(iv) Vv. 19-21 are the key to the nature of faith –
Abraham was convinced that God was able to do what he had
promised.

(v) V. 18 states the promise to Abraham.

(vi) V. 17 affirms the nature of the God who made the
promises.

(c) An analysis of faith shows that involves the assent
of the intellect, the trust of the emotions, and the
obedience of the will.

(i) All three elements are in the account of Abraham in
Genesis 12:1-9.

1. Abraham assented to the call of God, trusted God’s
promise to make of him a great nation, and obeyed God by
departing from all that was familiar in order to go to a
country yet to be shown to him.

2. The essential element is the middle term, but trust
presupposes the acceptance of something as true and results
in acting upon it.

(d) How are these elements involved in faith?

(i) Assent.

1. Faith involves the acceptance of a truth, an
intellectual assent.

a. Information is given, or a proposition is stated.

b. God must first speak; his word is the basis of faith;
it is accepted or rejected.

c. Heb. 11:6 is not an arbitrary statement.

d. The only way to receive a revelation is by faith; the
only way to know God’s will is to believe what he says.

2. Some statements are so compelling that one is branded
as stupid for not accepting them; other statements call for
a decision.

3. Religious statements belong in the latter
category.

a. Faith is a conviction of things not seen (Heb.
11:1).

b. Religion involves ultimate issues on which one must
take a stand.

c. A person cannot be neutral about ultimate issues.

d. To attempt to avoid the question of God is to make a
decision about God.

(ii) Trust.

1. Out of all the things to which we give intellectual
assent, there are some in which we place our trust.

2. Trust means confidence, taking someone at his
word.

3. Trust is the act in which one may rely on the
faithfulness, the trustworthiness of another; that his
promise holds and what he asks he asks of necessity.

4. Trust is where biblical faith goes beyond mental
consent.

a. It is being fully convinced, laying hold of
something.

b. There follows an emotional security and persuasion
from this commitment to what God gives.

5. Trusting God:

a. Is a complete commitment.

i. Trust in God excludes any other loyalties.

ii. There is no more trusting in self – justifying,
excusing, and attempting to save oneself.

iii. One depends of God for all of that.

b. Is done is spite of all that contradicts.

c. Is a “once for all” act.

i. It is not an opinion replaceable by another.

ii. It is an ultimate choice.

(iii) Obedience.

1. Whom you obey is the object of your faith (Rom.
6:16).

2. Faith and obedience are often combined in the
Bible.

a. Paul spoke of the obedience of faith at both the
beginning and end of Romans (1:5; 16:26).

b. The phrase refers to the obedience that accompanies
faith or “faithful obedience.”

3. From the biblical perspective, faith and obedience
are equivalent.

a. There was no faith that was not obedient, and the
Hebrew words of “faith” (emuna) included trust and
obedience.

b. The antithetical parallelism of John 3:36 is
instructive.

i. The opposite of belief is expressed not as unbelief,
but as disobedience.

ii. The opposite of obedience is disbelief.

iii. Compare also the equivalence of disobedience and
unbelief in Hebrews 3:18-19.

iv. In other words, faith means and includes
obedience.

c. Human beings as creatures must obey God.

i. Some of God’s gifts are unconditional (Matt. 5:45),
but some are conditional.

i. Faith saves, but when – at the point of believing, or
when the divine condition attached to the promise is
met?

ii. Baptism is an act of faith, not a work in the sense
of Romans 4.

iii. As a condition attached to God’s promise of
salvation, it is not opposed to faith (Acts 2:38; Gal.
3:26-27).

iv. Faith is the reason why a person is a child of God;
baptism is the time at which one is incorporated into
Christ and so becomes a child of God.

v. Baptism is not a work, either in the sense of merit
or of Christian works.

vi. One cannot define work in such a way as to include
baptism and exclude faith.

vii. There is a sense in which faith itself is a work
(John 6:28-29).

viii. Some have tried to make the work in v. 29
something that God does, but the question of v. 28 that is
being answered makes it clear that it is something that
humans do.

ix. If work is taken to mean something that humans do it
is evident that faith is no less a work than baptism.

x. Both faith and baptism are conditions of receiving
salvation (Mark 16:15-16).

xi. The teaching of baptism for the remission of sins is
not a contradiction to justification by faith; indeed,
baptism for the remission of sins is an expression of
justification by faith.

xii. Baptism is an act of faith, dependent on the
promise of God and a submission to him as the appointed way
of claiming the promise.

xiii. A person can be assured of salvation.

xiv. God has given an objective assurance in the
condition of water baptism.

xv. Human nature seems to require some outward bodily
action to express trust and commitment: raising the hand,
coming down the aisle, kneeling, or something else.

xvi. God has given the objective, outward expression of
faith in Christ – baptism in the name of Christ.

xvii. If one has enough faith to be baptized, one has
enough faith to be saved.

xviii. If one’s faith is in Christ as Savior, one will
follow him in baptism.

xix. It is trusting God and his word to be baptized.

b. Faith and confession.

i. Faith demands an expression, but how does one express
a trusting obedient faith?

ii. If faith involves the mind, emotions, and will, the
expression of it will involve the whole self; faith is
expressed by word and act.

iii. The confession made at the time of conversion,
evident from the association with salvation and
justification, is the theme of Romans 10:9-10.

iv. The wording indicates that this is a formal, public
confession, a “calling upon the name of the Lord” made in
response to hearing the message about Christ (Rom.
10:13-17).

v. The confession that Jesus is Lord is made by acts as
well as by word.

vi. The action of baptism is a confession of faith in
the resurrection (Col. 2:12).

vii. The act of baptism displays the burial and
resurrection of Jesus (Rom. 6:3-6; Col. 2:12).

c. Faith and Repentance.

i. The human response to the preaching of the gospel of
God’s action in Christ is also described by the word
“repentance,” the importance of which is emphasized in many
scriptures (Matt. 3:12; Matt.4:17; Luke 13:3; Mark 6:12;
Luke 24:47; Acts 3:19; Acts 11:18; Acts 17:30).

ii. Repentance, as it pertains to human relations with
God, may be defined as that change of mind or heart,
produced by godly grief (2 Cor. 7:8-10), which leads to a
reformation of life.

iii. The fundamental idea is that of turning, or
returning; in the religious sense, a returning to one’s due
obedience to God.

iv. Repentance is a change of will in regard to sin; it
is the resolve to quit doing evil and start doing
right.

v. This may be expressed as a change of “mind” or of
“heart,” but perhaps the strength of the idea is best
captured by the word “will.”

b) Baptism.

i) Importance.

(1) Baptism is an expression of repentance and faith,
and is itself a confession.

(a) The immediate predecessor of Christian baptism was
the baptism of John.

(b) Christian baptism differed from John’s baptism in
being associated with faith in Jesus Christ and so
administered in his name (Acts 19:4-5; cf. Mark 1:7) and in
promising the Holy Spirit as well as forgiveness of sins
(Acts 19:2-3; cf. Mark 1:8).

(2) Christ’s baptism is the foundation of Christian
baptism.

(a) The usual association of baptism with remission of
sins is implied in John’s reluctance to baptize Jesus
(Matt. 3:13-14).

(b) At the baptism of Jesus the Spirit came upon him and
God acknowledged him as his Son (Matt. 3:16-17; Mark
1:10-11; Luke 3:21-23.

(c) So for Christians, at baptism they are acknowledged
as children of God (Gal. 3:26-27) and receive the Holy
Spirit (Gal. 4:5-7; Acts 2:38).

ii) Meaning.

(1) Confession of faith.

(a) Faith is confessed at the time one becomes a
Christian, both with the lips and by the act of water
baptism.

(i) Those who “received the word” about Jesus were
baptized (Acts 2:41).

(ii) Baptism is a “calling on the name” of the Lord
(Acts 22:16).

(iii) The reference is likely to the confession of faith
made at baptism.

(iv) The association with faith in Jesus as the Christ
was a distinguishing mark of Christian baptism (Acts
19:4-5).

(v) Hebrews 10:22-23 associates confession with the
washing with water.

(b) Baptism is a pledge of allegiance, an oath of
loyalty to Christ.

(i) At baptism not only does the candidate call on the
name of God, but God’s name is called on him.

(ii) The words of Matthew 28:19 about baptism “into the
name of” occurs in Acts 8:16 with reference to “the Lord
Jesus” and in Acts 19:5-6 to “Jesus Christ.”

(iii) Paul’s rebuke of the Corinthians for identifying
with party leaders, “Or were you baptized into the name of
Paul?” (1 Cor. 1:13, 15), implies a connection between
baptism and the name worn.

(c) Act of repentance.

(i) Baptism is a result of repentance and an expression
of that repentance.

(ii) The baptism of John was a repentance baptism (Mark
1:4; Luke 3:3; Acts 19:4).

(iii) The people confessed their sins (Matt. 3:6; Mark
1:5), and John gave specific instructions about what
repentance required (Luke 3:7-14).

(iv) That association between repentance and baptism
continue in Christian baptism.

(v) The people on Pentecost were cut to the heart and
wanted to know what they should do about their sinful
condition (Acts 2:37).

(vi) Peter told them to “repent and be baptized . . . in
the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38).

(vii) Baptism is involved in the turning associated with
repentance.

1. Acts 3:19 offers a parallel to Acts 2:38.

2. Four terms are in both verses: two are the same, and
the other two in suggestive parallelism:

a. Acts 2:38 Acts 3:19

Repent Repent

Be baptized Turn to God

Sins forgiven Sins wiped out

Gift of the Holy Spirit Times of refreshing

b. The identity of the first and third items suggests a
certain equivalence between the second and fourth
items.

c. Repentance is the inward turning; baptism is the
outward turning, which is followed by a new life of walking
in the opposite direction.

(d) Forgiveness of sins.

(i) The walking in God’s way that follows on repentance
and baptism is made possible because baptism brings
forgiveness of sins.

(ii) Better stated, baptism is the appointed time at
which God pronounces forgiveness.

1. Faith takes away the love of sin.

2. Repentance takes away the practice of sin.

3. Baptism takes away the guilt of sin.

(iii) Acts 2:38 states the purpose of repentance and
baptism.

1. The Greek construction is a regular way of expressing
an object or goal: “for,” “unto,” or “in order to obtain”
forgiveness of sins.

2. Some have doubted this purpose of baptism and have
tried to translate differently, but the grammar will not
permit it.

3. Exactly the same construction and wording occurs in
Matthew 26:28, and no one would suggest that Jesus’ blood
was poured out “because of the forgiveness of sins.”

4. He did not die because sins were already forgiven,
not was his blood poured out as a symbol of the forgiveness
of sins.

5. There is no doubt that the blood was shed “in order
to effect the forgiveness of sins.”

(iv) This teaching of forgiveness of sins in baptism is
expressed in other verses by the imagery of washing or
cleansing.

1. Acts 22:16.

a. The power of forgiveness in not in the water or in
the act.

b. The power is in God and the blood of Christ; it is
received because one calls on the name of the Lord, and it
is received in baptism.

2. 1 Peter 3:21.

a. Peter clearly distinguishes the baptismal washing
from an ordinary bath and a ceremonial cleansing.

b. The difference is made, on the part of the
individual, by the verbal commitment and the association
with a good conscience, and, on the part of the divine
action, by the effect of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ.

c. There is no magical power in the water or merit in
the act itself, for the value comes not from the water but
from the intention with which the act is performed.

d. The statement is not to be absolutized, but when
placed in the total context of the gospel, it remains true,
“baptism saves.”

3. Ephesians 5:26.

a. The imagery is that of the nuptial bath by the bride
(cf. Ezek. 16:8-12).

b. The purifying is by water and by word.

c. The “word” may be the candidate’s confession of
faith, the baptismal formula by the baptizer, the preached
gospel, or the promise of God.

(v) Gift of the Holy Spirit.

1. The promise of the Holy Spirit is made to the
penitent believer who is baptized. Acts 2:38; Gal. 4:6;
Acts 19:1-6.

2. The gift of the Holy Spirit, as well as the
association with the name of Jesus and confession of him is
a distinguishing characteristic of Christian baptism.

(vi) New Birth.

1. Baptism as a new birth is one way of describing what
God does at baptism. John 3:3-5.

a. The new birth described here is one birth of two
elements, not two births.

b. A lot is said about “born again Christians”;
actually, there is no other kind of Christian.

c. The way one becomes a Christian is to be born
again.

d. Those who use this phrase usually mean by it a
subjective, emotional conversion experience.

e. In the Bible, rebirth refers to an objective act that
changes a person’s status and relationship.

f. There are two elements of the new birth, despite the
efforts of some to dehydrate the rebirth.

2. The new birth is accomplished by God. 1 Pet. 1:3.

3. The agency of the new birth is the word of God. 1
Pet. 1:23-25.

4. A parallel to John 3:5 is Titus 3:5, although Titus 3
5 uses a different word with a different conceptual
background.

a. The word rendered “regeneration” in the NASB and KJV
is palingenesia, which was used in philosophical literature
for the regeneration of the world, hence for a new age.

b. This concept of a renewed world is more likely the
background of Titus 3:5 than the idea of a physical
birth.

c. The water or washing, then, is related to the new
world, the new age.

d. It is accompanied by a renewing that is accomplished
by the Hoy Spirit.

e. The similarity with John 3:5 is that once more the
newness involves two elements, water and Spirit.

5. Reference to the water precedes the Spirit in both
John 3:5 and Titus 3:5.

a. It seems likely that these verses speak not of
something the Spirit does before baptism, but what the
Spirit does in baptism.

b. The Spirit imparts the new spiritual life.

c. This is something objective.

d. The renewing by the Holy Spirit is what God does, not
what a person feels.

e. The Spirit gives a new heart and a new spirit (Ezek.
36:26), so that one becomes a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17)
who lives a new life (Col. 3:8-11).

(vii) Death and Resurrection.

1. What John speaks of as a new birth, Paul describes as
the death and resurrection of a transformed life. Col.
2:12; Rom. 6:3-11.

2. Paul and Peter both connect baptism and its saving
effects with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1 Pet.
3:18-22.

a. As Christ died, was buried, and was raised, so
baptism expresses death son sin, the burial of the old
self, and resurrection to a new life.

b. There is both a negative and positive aspect – a
canceling of the old and the initiation of the new.

c. The old self that was a slave to sin is crucified and
buried.

d. God who raised Jesus raises the one baptized to a new
life.

e. Anything but immersion destroys the symbolism of the
act.

3. Baptism is a link between the atonement and Christian
living.

a. The purpose of Paul’s reference to baptism in Romans
6 is to show the inconsistency of a life of sin in one who
understands the meaning of baptism.

God's Plan of Salvation

You must hear the gospel and then understand and recognize that you are lost without Jesus Christ no matter who you are and no matter what your background is. The Bible tells us that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Before you can be saved, you must understand that you are lost and that the only way to be saved is by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:8) Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

You must believe and have faith in God because “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) But neither belief alone nor faith alone is sufficient to save. (James 2:19; James 2:24; Matthew 7:21)

You must repent of your sins. (Acts 3:19) But repentance alone is not enough. The so-called “Sinner’s Prayer” that you hear so much about today from denominational preachers does not appear anywhere in the Bible. Indeed, nowhere in the Bible was anyone ever told to pray the “Sinner’s Prayer” to be saved. By contrast, there are numerous examples showing that prayer alone does not save. Saul, for example, prayed following his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:11), but Saul was still in his sins when Ananias met him three days later (Acts 22:16). Cornelius prayed to God always, and yet there was something else he needed to do to be saved (Acts 10:2, 6, 33, 48). If prayer alone did not save Saul or Cornelius, prayer alone will not save you. You must obey the gospel.
(2 Thess. 1:8)

You must confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. (Romans 10:9-10) Note that you do NOT need to make Jesus “Lord of your life.” Why? Because Jesus is already Lord of your life whether or not you have obeyed his gospel. Indeed, we obey him, not to make him Lord, but because he already is Lord. (Acts 2:36) Also, no one in the Bible was ever told to just “accept Jesus as your personal savior.” We must confess that Jesus is the Son of God, but, as with faith and repentance, confession alone does not save. (Matthew 7:21)

Having believed, repented, and confessed that Jesus is the Son of God, you must be baptized for the remission of your sins. (Acts 2:38) It is at this point (and not before) that your sins are forgiven. (Acts 22:16) It is impossible to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ without teaching the absolute necessity of baptism for salvation. (Acts 8:35-36; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Peter 3:21) Anyone who responds to the question in Acts 2:37 with an answer that contradicts Acts 2:38 is NOT proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Once you are saved, God adds you to his church and writes your name in the Book of Life. (Acts 2:47; Philippians 4:3) To continue in God’s grace, you must continue to serve God faithfully until death. Unless they remain faithful, those who are in God’s grace will fall from grace, and those whose names are in the Book of Life will have their names blotted out of that book. (Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:5; Galatians 5:4)

What is the church of Christ?

In Matthew 16:18, Jesus promised to build a church.
In Acts 2:47, Luke tells us that people were being
added to that church. Thus, we can conclude that Jesus
built His church sometime between His promise in
Matthew 16 and Luke’s statement in Acts 2. Indeed, a
closer study of the events in Acts 2 reveals that the
Lord’s church was established on that first day of
Pentecost following the Lord’s resurrection when Peter
preached the first gospel sermon. That church is the church of Christ.

A common misconception about the church of Christ is
that “The Church of Christ” is its name. It is not. The
“church of Christ” is its description. The church of
Christ is the church that belongs to Christ, that was
established by Christ, that was built by Christ, and
that was bought by Christ. It is not our church; it is
His church, the Lord’s church. We are not voted into
the church by men, and we do not join a church the way
some might join a country club. Instead, God adds us to
His church when we obey His gospel.

Are those in the church of Christ the only people
who are going to be saved? Of course they are! God
adds people to His church when they are saved. If you
are not in the Lord’s church, then you are not saved.
If you are saved, then you are in the Lord’s church. To
be saved outside of the church of Christ is to be saved
outside of the body of Christ – and that can never
happen. Jesus is not just a way to the Father; he is
the way to the Father. As Jesus said in John 14:6, “ I
am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me.”

Thus, the real question is not what is the church of
Christ, but is rather how do you become a part of the
church of Christ? That question was asked in the first
century as it is asked today, and the answer remains
the same. We are saved and added to the Lord’s church
when we obey the gospel of Jesus Christ. Like the
Apostle Paul, we are saved when our sins are washed
away at our baptism.

There is one church of Christ. If you are a member
of something else or something more or something less,
then you are not serving God according to His plan or
according to His will. He wants you to be a Christian
and only a Christian, wearing only the name of His Son,
Jesus Christ, who is the head and the savior of the
church, His body.

What Must I Do?

What must I do? That same question was asked in Acts 2:37 at the end of the very first gospel sermon ever preached. Before we look at Peter’s answer in verse 38, let’s look at some answers Peter did NOT give.

What must I do? John Calvin answers, “Nothing!” According to Calvin, there is nothing we must do and nothing we can do. Each of us has already been personally predestined to Heaven or Hell without regard to anything we do on Earth, and so, logically, according to Calvin, the only answer to the question in Acts 2:37 is “Nothing.” But that is NOT how Peter answered that question.

What must I do? Many preachers today answer, “You must make Jesus the Lord of your life.” But that answer makes absolutely no sense then or now! Peter had just said in Acts 2:36 that “God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Jesus was already Lord of their lives! Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings, which means he is your Lord and your King whether or not you obey him or believe him. We obey Jesus because he is Lord and King – not to make him Lord and King.

What must I do? Many preachers today answer, “You must pray the sinner’s prayer and invite the Lord Jesus into you heart.” But no one in the Bible was ever told to do that. In fact, Paul prayed after he saw Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:11), and yet Paul was still in his sins when Ananias met him three days later (Acts 22:16). Cornelius prayed to God always (Acts 10:2), and yet there remained something he still had to do after calling for Peter (Acts 10:6). If praying the sinner’s prayer was all that Paul and Cornelius needed to do, then why were Ananias and Peter needed?

What must I do? Listen as Peter answers that question: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38) That answer has not changed one bit in the intervening 2000 years. If your preacher is telling you something different, then you need a new preacher! “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” (Acts 22:16)

We also have 24 lessons on First Corinthians. In this epistle, Paul deals with many current issues facing the church both then and now: immorality, divorce and remarriage, the role of women, spiritual gifts, the importance of love, and the resurrection of the body.

We have 25 lessons on Second Corinthians. In this epistle, Paul continues to deal with problems facing the church in Corinth, which now include an influx of false apostles who are belittling Paul and demeaning his apostolic authority.

We have 13 lessons on James and Jude, the two letters written by the earthly (half)-brothers of Christ. They have much to tell us about the Christian life and how we are to contend for the faith in a godless world.